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Grim Reapers
The Grim Reaper is the most common personification of death in European contexts. The general depiction is of a skeleton figure, who may either walk or float, largely shrouded in a black and hooded cloak, and carrying a scythe and hourglass. As death, the Grim Reaper's job can be divided in three tasks, though it depends on the story which tasks are attributed to them. The three tasks are to announce death, to execute the person marked for death, and to guide or take the deceased to the realm of the dead. Though the Grim Reaper in folklore is considered a singular entity and often identified as male, in literature and other consciously written media multiple reapers are not a rarity, nor are female ones. In Monster High, too, there are multiple grim reapers. Etymology History In English, from the 15th century onwards, Death came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood, while the title of "the Grim Reaper" is first attested from 1847. * Death: Life-of-Death (Rime of the ancient mariner), The Pilgrim/La Dama del Alba, Ankou, Pesta, The Phantom Carriage, Lenore, Discworld, Horsemen, Urshanabi, Red Death, Moira, Angel of Death. Fiction Monster High The Monster High grim reapers are River Styxx, her father, Charon, D'eath, and G. Reaper. The first four are all related, and the relation with the fifth, as well as his very existence, is unclear. Charon is River's uncle and implied to specifically be her father's brother. D'eath is the cousin of River's father (and presumably therefore of Charon too). D'eath and G. Reaper may be the same person, but the fiction is not conclusive on this. In addition to these five, River berates the Ghosts of Hauntings for "messing with another reaper's confetti canons", insinuating that at least one of them is a grim reaper. If so, the logical candidate would be Future, who also has the skill of future vision just like confirmed grim reapers. D'eath is one of the original six Monster High employees Mattel introduced in 2010, though he belongs to the 2/3th to barely receive fictional presence. His 2010 appearances are limited to his inclusion in the Fearbook. The only information provided at this time was that he's the school counselor and attended North Styx State and Tombstone Tech to get the required degrees. In 2011, D'eath was not included in any fiction, but the sole appearance of G. Reaper occurred in "Back-to-Ghoul". He, too, is Monster High's school counselor. At this time, the characters could easily be the same person, but this started changing in 2012 when D'eath had a short spike in fictional presence due to inclusion in the Between Classes booklets and Ghoulfriends Forever and received characterization. D'eath is highly incompetent at his job, perpetually morose, enchanted by Scaris but psychologically unable to arrange to travel to there, and Rochelle hypothesizes he owns a cat. For as short as Reaper appeared in "Back-to-Ghoul", this does not match with his depiction, give or take owning a cat. In issue #10 of the UK magazine, released in January of 2013, a few pages were dedicated to the staff of Monster High, focussing on four of the original six. In case of D'eath, this included his credentials and art — published fully for the first time — but the name used was Reaper. This would imply again that the two are the same person, though D'eath's "attributes" as per the art are a newspaper and a cup of coffee, while as per "Back-to-Ghoul" Reaper carries around a scythe. Lastly, in Late 2014 [[River Styxx's Haunted diary|River's Haunted diary]] complicated the situation again. According to it, reapers are bound by Oath of Neutrality, "By my scythe I do solemnly swear to use neither word nor deed to affect an outcome as yet undecided." River elaborates that any reaper who breaks this oath must give up their scythe and spend the next thousand years as a solid overthinking their deeds. This happened to her father's cousin, who's only identified as "a high school guidance counselor" nowadays. The full description matches D'eath perfectly, but it makes Reaper peculiar because he still has his scythe. It is possible that G. Reaper must be considered retconned as a fluke manifestation of D'eath, but equally if D'eath and Reaper have a dual identity going on like Jekyll and Hyde have, that would all of the fiction regading them so far. As aforementioned, the fiction is not conclusive on this. D'eath's once-enrollment at North Styx State is a reference to the river Styx, which in Greek mythology was the body that separated the realm of the living from the realm of the dead. River's last name, Styxx, also is a reference to the river. The ferryman who helped the deceased across the river was Charon. Rochelle's hunch that he owns a cat is a shout-out to the Death of the Discworld novels. Though probably unintentional, both D'eath's friendship with Rochelle and false date with Sylphia Flapper in the Ghoulfriends Forever evoke the Death and the Maiden motif. References Category:Monster history Category:Grim Reapers